


Junction Point

by Progman



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Asami is Noodles, Canon Compliant, F/F, Post-Canon, Spirit Vines, Weapons of Mass Destruction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-29
Updated: 2015-10-29
Packaged: 2018-04-28 17:30:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5099237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Progman/pseuds/Progman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Months after the worst is over, and the Spirit Vines have been rendered inert, Asami travels to the Foggy Swamp to find out how long this uneasy peace will last.  She finds an answer, but makes her own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Junction Point

**Author's Note:**

> **EDIT: THIS STORY HAS LONG SINCE BEEN INTEGRATED INTO[ _REPAIRS, RETROFITS AND UPGRADES_](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2807429/chapters/6301253) AND SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS STAND-ALONE. IT REMAINS FOR POSTERITY. PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE [_SPIN THE RAILS_](http://archiveofourown.org/series/188699) SERIES FOR COMPLETE CONTEXT!**
> 
> Beta'd by thejmpr

Asami wiped the sweat off of her brow as she walked deeper into the swamp. Her boots dragged mud and sludge that had travelled with her for miles of waist deep black lakes and vines that only grew paler. She looked up, the endless green canopy blotting out the sun and sky alike, and took a small breath, her tired eyes deepening.

There was energy around her; the beeps and clicking coming from her modified spirit energy counter confirmed that. But she couldn't feel a thing. Not a single shift of the air, nor a rumble in her gut. No 'bad feeling' or sense of dread. Nothing. She pulled the counter off of her belt and watched the needle hover just below the red, wavering ever so slightly as to suggest that maybe, just maybe, it was wrong.

The withered, lifeless vines that spread across the swamp floor and up into the trees seemed to be trying to convince her of that. It had been the same in Republic City. Slowly, over the course of many months, the vines had receded and became brittle. No stronger than a dead twig. The mystery wasn't the how or why of how it had occurred, but rather if it was permanent. If the vines that were, for the moment, no longer a threat, would never become one again.

Asami swept the counter out in front of her like a divining rod, searching for the highest concentration of energy. The unmistakable clicking spiked as she pointed directly toward the Banyan Grove tree, just as it always had. She tightened the strap on her pack and followed the reading, one foot in front of the other, stepping around gnarled roots and mossy stone.

She tried to push a curtain of dead vines out of the way and found resistance. Substance. She looked up and widened her eyes as the pale, withered vines expanded and regained their color in seconds, wriggling and snapping back and forth as they retook their former shape. Asami stumbled backward and frantically checked her counter.

The compass was spinning in circles and the counter needle was so far into the red that it cracked off, splintering the glass. The clicking and beeping became louder and louder as the ground rumbled beneath her. She clipped it back on to her belt and took off in a sprint toward the Banyan Grove tree. Maybe she wasn't too late. Maybe she could still stop it from happening all over again.

Asami had prepared for nearly this exact eventuality. Of course, she hadn't guessed the regrowth period would be almost instantaneous, if the blooming flowers and rapidly ripening vines that followed her as she ran were any indication. The forest grew thicker and closed in on her, in perfect time with her panicked heart.

At the last moment, she dove through a small gap in the treeline, the hole sealing itself over with roots and vines behind her the second she rolled to her feet. She could still hear the forest rebirthing itself for miles in every direction. But she was safe. The clearing she'd found was relatively silent. Calming.

Asami looked up at the base of the Banyan Grove Tree in silent awe. It was utterly beautiful; she couldn't deny that. A massive tree that intertwined with life itself in all ways known to humanity and many that were not. The eternal, infinite connection among everything. Unique in the material world, and just barely so for the spirits.

Half the foundation of reality itself, and unironically half of the same illusion as well.

"No visions this time?" Asami asked the tree, tracing her boot across a raised patch of earth. She crouched down and dug out the dirt with her gloves, revealing a small, but still very much alive, spirit vine. Asami unzipped her bag and set it down beside her. She pulled out a ruler and marker, and quickly sectioned off six inches of the vine with thick black lines. "That only worries me." She carefully drew the utility knife from the small of her back and eyed herself in the polished steel. "If you've given up on me, then…" She caught sight of another pair of eyes in the blade's reflection and spun around.

But there was no one there. No extra set of green eyes, identical to her own, were staring back at her. No illusion. She must have been seeing double. Stress could do that. Probably. Anxiety, too.

Asami rubbed her eyes and focused her attention back on the vine. It was necessary. It had been necessary for months. She'd convinced herself. She'd convinced Korra, albeit grudgingly. Everyone who mattered. The risk was worth the reward, and then they could all finally, mercifully, sleep soundly at night.

And Asami was so very tired.

Asami made two quick cuts on the vine, separating the marked section from the network. Nothing attacked her. She gingerly picked it out of the dirt and rested it behind her. Still, nothing. She pulled a small electrical generator out of her pack and connected the wiring to the isolated vine, ensuring the connecting pins were as deep as they could go. Once again, nothing.

Asami placed her hand on the dial and slowly turned it, sending a stream of electricity into the vine. If it glowed, they were still conduits If they didn't, it would finally be over. Little by little, she increased the voltage. Then, on the tenth tick, the vine began to hum. And then sparked into a faint purple glow.

Her posture collapsed as she watched the vine become brighter; spirit energy flowing from across the barrier to mock her in person. Nothing had changed. After all of those nightmares, both real and self fabricated, not a damn thing had changed.

Asami gnashed her teeth and tore the generator out of the vine, smashing it with her boot. The vine withered and faded to a pale green, just as the others had been. It was only temporary. A solution that needed to be repeated at such a high frequency that it may as well have been meaningless.

Asami picked up her hand radio and gripped it tightly. She couldn't see her knuckles, but she knew they were white. She turned it on and closed her eyes. "Korra," she said, consciously leveling out her voice. As much as she wanted to just walk in silence back to her landing site, she needed to get the bad news out of the way first.

There was no response, and Asami wondered why she even bothered. Korra would know. She was a living spiritual energy detector. What was the point of telling her that they'd simply bought time, and then effectively squandered it? If word got out, paranoia would be the norm. For...she didn't want to think about how long. And then a thought occurred to her. A very simple one.

What if word  _didn't_ get out? At least, not yet.  Not until they were ready.

"Korra," she said once more, swallowing her despair and anger. "Come on, Korra, I'm in the middle of the swamp. The least you could do is wait by the radio."

" _Asami! Hey, sorry, I had to run outside for a minute. So…"_ She heard shuffling through the receiver. " _What's the verdict?"_

Asami licked her lips and stared hard at the Banyan Grove Tree. She traced the tiny etchings in the roots up as far as she could follow them, and finally exhaled. "It's over," she lied. But, of course, Korra would know that. She'd immediately know that she was trying to cover it up. And Asami had to bank everything on that one simple fact.

That she would know. That she would know how to react.

The radio was silent for a few moments, but then the static cleared. " _Then come home and give everyone else the good news,"_ she said flatly.

Asami turned back to the treeline as she heard branches stretch and rustle. The forest was parting itself; clearing a path for her in the most blatant way possible. Validation that strengthened what little resolve she had for what they were going to do. What they  _had_ to do. She couldn't lose everything. She  _wouldn't._ Not again.

And in the center of the path, she spotted something sticking out of the mud. Something she thought she'd lost in the battle against Artana.

Her fan-blade, with its scabbard discarded beside it.

Asami grasped the hilt and slid it out of the earth, the wound in the ground healing itself as soon as the sword was free. She expanded and refolded the fan-blade, clearing off most of the dirt and stared into the metal. A pair of amber eyes glared right back at her. Mocking her, even in death. But Asami had proven her wrong.

Hadn't she?

" _Asami?_ "

"I'm here." Asami sheathed the blade. "I'll see you in the morning."

" _Love you."_

"Love you, too."

**Author's Note:**

>  **EDIT: THIS STORY HAS LONG SINCE BEEN INTEGRATED INTO[ _REPAIRS, RETROFITS AND UPGRADES_](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2807429/chapters/6301253) AND SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS STAND-ALONE. IT REMAINS FOR POSTERITY. PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE [_SPIN THE RAILS_](http://archiveofourown.org/series/188699) SERIES FOR COMPLETE CONTEXT!**
> 
> **Original Notes:** Do you think Asami made the right choice? If not, why? I'm really curious about this, since nuclear disarmament, and everything that entails, is a topic that I'm quite passionate about.


End file.
